With the clarity only hindsight can provide, it's evident Delta's rabbit control program wasn't quite as humane or costeffective as originally advertised. It was about 18 months ago when those over at municipal hall devised a plan, originally budgeted at $60,000, to round up the 500 or so rabbits populating the civic precinct, sterilize the furry things and then relocate them to Ladner Harbour Park.
With 20 to 25 rabbits caught each week, the plan took several months to carry out, but when it was complete last spring, it was hailed as a success. It also came in way under budget at about $25,000.
That good news story seems a little less flattering following word last week from our MLA, who is lobbying to get a footbridge replaced adjacent to the park, that all the rabbits have disappeared. I hadn't been to the park for a few months, and the last time I was there I spied a few hopping around, so I made a point of visiting to see if Vicki Huntington was correct.
Sure enough, she was bang on. Even though it's been just over a year since the last batch was relocated to the park, I couldn't spot a single rabbit.
The best guess on the lifespan of a domestic rabbit is between half a dozen and a dozen years, presuming, of course, they're well cared for and kept indoors. Wild rabbits tend not to fare as well as predators often limit their lives to just two or three years. You don't have to do the math to figure out domestic rabbits in the wild don't have much of a shot.
When Delta decided early last year to finally do something about bunnies overrunning the civic precinct, euthanizing the cuddly creatures was immediately deemed too cruel a solution. A cull was considered inhumane and alternative outcomes were sought, but essentially serving them up to eagles, hawks, coyotes, raccoons and a host of other predators at the waterfront park doesn't, in the light of day, seem like it was the optimum choice.
I guess the $25,000 of our tax money bought the rabbits, at least to varying degrees, some more time, but I suspect their eventual demise was far less humane than what would have awaited with a vet's needle.
To be fair, it was the people that used the civic centre as a convenient dumping ground for their pet rabbits that created this unfortunate situation. Delta, belatedly and with good intentions, tried to remedy the fast-growing problem, but hindsight shows such efforts didn't necessarily have the desired results.
